Animal Genomics for Human Health

Mission

The cures to many human diseases lie in the animal kingdom.

The elephant’s resistance to cancer is a popular example of an animal adaptation that promotes health and longevity, but many others exist.

Hibernating mammals begin to develop conditions similar to heart attack, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis, and Alzheimer’s disease, but unlike humans, they are able to protect themselves from damage, or even subsequently cure themselves of these illnesses. With the recent dramatic drop in sequencing costs thousands of humans are being sequenced, but other mammal species remain an untapped reservoir of information that could be used to inspire therapeutic discovery. Fauna Bio is pushing beyond the classic mouse model to develop a cross-mammal drug discovery platform that takes advantage of 100 million years of evolution.